The Third Soldier
by Hussain019
Summary: Zack and Sephiroth weren't the only SOLDIERs sent to Nibleheim.


**A/N: Not updating The Two Kyuubi Jinchuriki this week. Instead, I wanted to start a Final Fantasy VII story as well. This was another idea that was in my head. What if another SOLDIER was sent with Zack and Sephiroth to Nibelheim? Seems logical. Anyway, here we go with chapter one of The Third Soldier. Seriously, I need to come up with a better name.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.**

Location: SHINRA Building, SOLDIER floor

The elevator opened and Zack ran out, stopping in front of Kunsel. "Is Sephiroth ready yet?" "Nope. You still have some time if you want to finish up with something." Zack shook his head. "Nah. Might as well wait here for him. Seriously, he's the best SOLDIER we have. He should be showing up on time." "If that happened he would have given you a nice long talk." Zack grimaced as he remembered the last 'talk'. "Yeah...I never said that." Kunsel chuckled. "Well, I've got my own assignment to get to. Let's meet up again after we're finished, okay?" Zack smiled and shook his hand. "You can bet on it." They walked off.  
Zack headed to the briefing room. Two ShinRa troops were there. One of them was Cloud. "Oh hey Cloud, looks like we're on a mission together again! This should be fun." Cloud looked at Zack and smiled. Then Sephiroth entered the room, alongside another SOLDIER. 2nd class, from the colour of his uniform. "Sorry I'm late. With the risk of Genesis and his forces attacking, I decided to take another SOLDIER to guard the town while we investigate the reactor." The SOLDIER stepped forward, taking off his helmet. He had brown, shoulder length hair and brown eyes. "SOLDIER 2nd class Zyron, reporting for duty, sir!" Zack sighed. He wasn't fond of being addressed as 'sir'. "At ease. And call me Zack. 'Sir' makes me feel old, like Sephiroth there." Sephiroth glared at him. "Say, Seph, where are we going?" "Nibelheim." Cloud's breath hitched.

Location: Helicopter en route to Nibelheim

Sephiroth was sitting in a corner, doing nothing. The ShinRa trooper with his helmet on was cleaning his weapon. Cloud was lost in thoughts. Zack sighed. _"What a boring bunch." _He looked at Zyron, who had his helmet off. "Not fond of helmets?" "No si-I mean Zack. In my opinion they act as a hindrance in combat." Then Zack noticed he had two swords attached to his back instead of the usual one. "What's with the second sword? Spare?" "No, Zack. I trained in using two swords. It's much more difficult to master fighting with two, but it's also much more dangerous in combat." Zack was interested. He had never seen any SOLDIER wielding two swords. "How about a spar once we land in Nibelheim?" Zyron smirked. "But General Sephiroth told me that you consider using your sword a cause of wear, tear and rust." Zack frowned. "Yeah, but there's always the blunt side." "I'm pretty sure a sword like yours won't exactly wear or tear. Rust is easily taken care off. All first class SOLDIERs use their own weapons from the sharp side." "Hmm...well come to think of it, the Buster Sword is pretty sharp." Zyron looked over at Cloud. "Why's he down?" "He's from Nibelheim. Apparently he ran away to join SOLDIER, but he never could." The conversation continued. Soon Zyron dozed off, Zack and the ShinRa trooper soon after. Cloud stayed up late into the night, listening to the monotonous noise of the rotors. Sephiroth didn't sleep. (**A/N: Good qs. Does Sephiroth even sleep?)**

Location: Nibelheim

"All right, you can all wander around for a bit. And if you have any relatives here, be sure to meet them." Sephiroth said, as he walked towards the inn. The ShinRa trooped went to guard the door. Cloud went off to throw up, due to airsickness. Zack and Zyron decided to walk around a bit. "Not a bad place. It's cold, though." Zack rolled his eyes. "It's winter." "Oh yeah." Suddenly a woman ran in front of them. She was wearing a cowboy hat, a top that barely covered her, and small shorts that showed off her long legs. "You two are from SOLDIER, right?" "Yeah. Why?" "Is there...no never mind." She ran off. "Well, awkward." Zack said. "One things for sure." Zyron said. "What?" "If that's the way young women dress here, this'll be one heck of an assignment." Zack laughed. "Well, I'm taken. I don't think you are though." "Nope. Hey, we should ask Cloud if he knows who she is." "Sure. As soon as he stops hurling." "Wait, he's STILL hurling? We didn't eat on the way here!" Zack's stomach then growled. "Oh yeah. Forgot about that." They headed towards a nearby food stall. After eating, they walked towards the inn. "Now to get Cloud to talk to his family."

They found Cloud standing near the inn. After a LOT of persuading, they got him to go talk to his family. "Well, now that's done. What now?" Zyron yawned. "I'm going to go sleep." "But it's only 5 p.m." "Night." Zack groaned. "What do I do now..." He walked off to explore town.

Next Morning

Sephiroth addressed the group in front of him. "Right. We're going to head to the reactor now. To introduce the sights along the way, we have Tifa here as our guide. Tifa smiled at them. Zyron noticed Cloud stiffen. So did Zack, and the first class elbowed Cloud playfully. "Alright, let's go. Zyron, you guard the town."

A long walk and many photos later...

"Well, here we are." The group arrived in front of the reactor. Zack and Sephiroth went inside while Cloud, Tifa and the ShinRa trooper stood outside.

At Nibelheim

Zyron sighed as he fiddled with his swords. Guard duty was so boring. He didn't know how the ShinRa infantrymen did their jobs for so long. He had been wandering around, alert, for hours now. _"Well, at least this place is more real than Midgar."_ Then he heard a scream. He ran towards the source. His breath hitched as he saw it. A Genesis copy. He hated Genesis copies. It had kicked a woman into a stall, and was now approaching her with it's halberd-like weapon raised. Zyron drew his swords and blocked the attack. The copy snarled and swung its weapon with speed. Zyron parried the blows, then held off the weapon with one sword and slashed with his other. The copy backflipped, but Zyron dashed forward and swung his swords in an intersecting arc. The copy was bisected, and faded away. Zyron put back his swords. He turned to the woman. "Are you okay?" "Yes, but there was two more of them headed for the reactor." "None others?" "No." Zyron ran in the direction of the reactor.

Location : Nibelheim Reactor Entrance

Zyron arrived just in time to see cloud get knocked into the reactor wall by one of the copies there. The other ShinRa trooper was dead. The copy raised it's gun/sword and aimed at Cloud. Zyron cast Fira at the copy, who dodged it, and then Zyron noticed the other copy, which looked injured. _"Cloud must have held them off and injured the weaker one." _ He drew his swords, and ran at the copies, motioning Tifa, who had appeared next to Cloud, to get cloud to a safe place. The injured copy tried attacking him, but was dispatched easily. As Zyron turned to face the other one, he saw it fire at him. He deflected most of the bullets, but got struck by one on his thigh, and one on his ribcage. Zyron gritted his teeth as the copy reloaded. Running at it in a zigzag manner, deflecting the bullets that almost hit him, he pivoted near the copy and, jumping, brought his swords down on it. The copy blocked the blow, and kicked Zyron. Zyron dropped into a backward roll, crossing his swords in an X to block the copy's attack. The copy was weaker than the SOLDIER, and Zyron pushed it back. In a final heave, he pushed the copy off his sword, and, unbalanced, the copy couldn't block the next attack, so it rolled, but the Zyron struck with his other sword, cutting off it's sword arm as it tried avoid the first sword. He dispatched it with another strike, this time cutting off the head. Then he saw none other than Genesis flying away from the reactor. Zack and Sephiroth came running out of the reactor. Zyron groaned as he put back his swords and cast cura on his wounds. _"What a day_". Zack reached him first. "Where's Cloud and Tifa?" "Probably back at Nibelheim. Cloud was injured and I told Tifa to help him get back while I fought the two copies here." Sephiroth walked past him, clearly disturbed about something. "Oh, and there was another copy back at Nibelheim, but I took care of that as well." Zack looked at him approvingly. "You're definitely skilled for a 2nd class. Just like I was. Now come on, let's go back before Sephiroth finds someone to vent his frustration on."

**A/N: And there's chapter one.** **Much better than the first chapter for my Naruto fic, if I do say so myself. Anyway, read and review, and these are the current ages for the characters in my fic.**

**Zack: Eighteen  
Cloud: Nineteen  
Zyron: Eighteen  
Aerith: Seventeen  
Tifa: Eighteen  
Cissnei: Nineteen  
Sephiroth: No idea :/  
**


End file.
